After running up huge pre-tournament liabilities about England and Brazil winning the World Cup, and then being flooded by bets on Argentina and Spain following impressive group-stage performances, the bookmakers' wallets are bulging with cash after Italy and France - both virtually untouched by punters in the outright market - made it to Sunday's final in Berlin. The Azzurri are rated as slight favourites to win what would be their fourth World Cup title at 5-6 (Ladbrokes and Paddy Power) with Les Blues available at 6-5 (UK Betting).

Marcello Lippi's team were a best-price 10-1 before a ball was kicked this summer and you cannot help but think they have had an easy run to the last four. Following three points against Ghana, red cards and injuries to the USA and Czech Republic respectively helped Italy take four points from their next two group fixtures. In the knockout stages they were drawn first against Australia (when only a dubious last-minute penalty saw them through) and then Ukraine; in both instances they were rated as short as 1-2 to win.

Raymond Domenech's side, 14-1 in the ante-post market and as big as 25-1 after they were held by South Korea in their second group fixture, were outsiders to defeat Spain and Brazil in the knockout stages. There is no doubt who had the easier route to the final, which should steer us towards France in the outright betting.

Zinédine Zidane's performances have seen his price drop to 4-7 with Ladbrokes on the exchanges to claim the Golden Ball for the tournament's outstanding player and SkyBet make him 6-1 to be named man of the match on Sunday. One more inspirational display might be enough to help France win their second World Cup.

The layers make Italy 7-4 favourites (Paddy Power) to defeat France (generally on offer at 9-4) in 90 minutes. But given the tight nature of the two semi-finals and the majority of the quarter-finals, a safer option in the match betting is to back the draw at a general 15-8.

The last time they met was in the final of Euro 2000, when France won 2-1 after extra time - SkyBet and Paddy Power offer 11-1 about a repeat; they also offer 10-1 about Italy winning after an extra half hour. The head-to-head statistics favour Les Blues, though, as Italy have won only one of the past nine meetings.

Italy's run to the final has been built on a solid defence. Marshalled by Fabio Cannavaro, 10-1 to be man of the match, they have conceded only one goal in the tournament, and that was an own-goal. France can boast four clean sheets so far and their rearguard looked untroubled against Brazil and Portugal.

Bookmakers have cottoned on to the lack of goals in the knockout stages, though, and offer just 2-5 (Sporting Odds) about less than three goals in the final. However, there is every possibility of a scoreless draw on Sunday and, rather than back a correct score of 0-0, back "no goalscorer" in the first player to score market - available at 5-1 with BetFred (which has cut its original quote of 11-2). This is because own-goals do not count in the first player to score betting but do in the correct score market.

So, should France win 1-0 courtesy of a Cannavaro own-goal, those who had backed no goalscorer would still win but those backing 0-0 would not - and the two outcomes are always the same price.